Transgender students occupy restrooms in protest at Simon Fraser University

Transgender, gender queer and allied students occupied a men’s washroom at SFU Wednesday.

On Wednesday February 18th, a group of transgender, gender-variant, and allied students from Simon Fraser University occupied on-campus bathrooms in an effort to educate students and university officials about the lack gender inclusive washrooms on campus. A lack of gender-neutral washrooms is a major safety concern for trans and gender-variant students who are often harassed or assaulted for not meeting gender expectations.

Students held a shit-in outside of the restrooms

The University responded to the protest in a press release noting that they are considering converting single-use restrooms into multi-stall gender-neutral restrooms. They also noted that the area of the protest has a number of single stall gender neutral restrooms available.

Perhaps while you listen to the radio broadcast below you might sign the petition to Associate Vice President, Simon Fraser University Tim Rahilly asking him for more Gender Inclusive Bathrooms.

According the facebook event page “SFU has made positive steps towards creating a trans-inclusive campus by recently allowing students to use chosen names on student ID cards and class lists. We hope to encourage further action that will ensure the safety of all SFU students.”

As part of their protest, transgender students occupied a men’s washroom at SFU, placing a sign on the door that read, “All genders welcome,” and “This toilet has been liberated from the gender binary.